Kerry: Israel Striking Iran Would Justify Pursuit of Nukes

‘You can’t make a bomb at 3.67 percent’

LAUER: “Israel hates this deal. They’ve made no bones about that.”

KERRY: “Some people do. No, the former head of Shin Bet believes this is a good deal. The former head of the Mossad believes it’s a good deal. The former head of the –“

LAUER: “But the prime minister does not like this deal.”

KERRY: “Well, the prime minister doesn’t. I understand that. But there are lots of people in Israel who understand this is the best way to proceed in order to roll back Iran’s program and make Israel safer.”

LAUER: “Do you think because many in Israel, including the prime minister, are very uncomfortable with this deal that it’s now making it more likely than two years ago, for example, that Israel might attempt some unilateral action, military or cyber attack, against Iran?”

KERRY: “Well, I think that would be an enormous mistake, a huge mistake with grave consequences for Israel and for the region. And I don’t think it’s necessary. The fact is that we will have for 15 years a restraint on Iran that absolutely prevents it from developing a weapon. They can’t enrich beyond 3.67 percent. You can’t make a bomb at 3.67 percent. They will only have 300 kilograms of stockpile of enriched uranium. You can’t make a bomb with that. They will have inspections on a daily basis in their enrichment facilities. So we are –“

LAUER: “If the Israelis are not convinced –“

KERRY: “We’re confident about this.”

LAUER: “-- and they take that action, where would it leave us? Would we support Israel? Would this treaty go up in smoke?”

KERRY: “Well, if they bombed them, sure, I presume Iran would then have a reason to say, ‘Well, this is why we need a bomb.’ And what Iran will decide to do is dig deeper because Israel does not have the ability, nor do we, to stop – unless we went to all-out war and literally annihilated Iran, which I don’t hear people talking about.”

 

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